On July 1, 2023, we implemented Matomo to track web usage analytics for the OAC and Calisphere websites. Matomo is an open-source web analytics application that is centered on user privacy. Matomo does not measure extent metrics.

Usage analytics dashboards are available on our Contributor Help Center site:

Overview of Usage Analytics Dashboards

The usage analytics dashboard structure is provided by Matomo; select reports are included in these dashboards. These report pages have been customized to subset usage data by contributing repositories, as well as by collections.

Report types

Except for the “Sitewide Activity” report, all reports are arranged by contributing repositories. The following reports are currently available:

  • Sitewide Activity: Calisphere- or OAC-wide summary of overall usage for each service.
  • Collections: Usage totals for each contributor; option to drill deeper for each collection shared by a contributor. Use this view to export summary reports.
  • Page URLs: An extension of the report above, this report provides an option to drill deeper for the specific page URLs visited. This report is arranged by contributor names.
  • Outbound Referrals: How often do users click on externally pointing URLs? This report includes counts of exits from either Calisphere or OAC pages to visit a URL referenced by the contributor. This report is arranged by contributor names.
  • Entry Sources: How did users enter the Calisphere or OAC pages? This report includes counts of external resources that led users to either the Calisphere or OAC pages, including the entry URL. This report is arranged by contributor names.
  • California Revealed: Usage totals for collections that have participated in the California Revealed program; arranged by contributor names. This report is only available for Calisphere collections. [Note: The OAC analytics dashboard will include an empty report page.] 

General tips to navigate the dashboard

Dashboard template emphasizing clickable options, buttons, and dropdowns; additional details are described below.

Dashboard template emphasizing clickable options, buttons, and dropdowns; additional details are described below.

Selecting date ranges

Before you begin to traverse through the reports, consider defining your date ranges (day, week, month, custom, etc.). Defining date ranges later will take you back to the "Sitewide Activity" dashboard page.

Please note that defining large date ranges will require the dashboard to run through larger amounts of data. For this reason, if you have selected an extensive date range (e.g., 6 months or more) you may experience some slowness. We recommend chunking your date range into shorter periods.

Dashboard customizations to address user privacy and security considerations

Please note that certain features and reports have been intentionally restricted to address user privacy and security concerns. Though you may be able to select these links, the resulting data or action may be restricted and will not load. [The Matomo application currently does not provide options to hide these restricted features.]

  • “All Visits” dropdown: Though the options to create segments will appear, segments will not be created. This is restricted due to security considerations.
  • “Dashboard” dropdown: This feature opens up a library of additional reports. Any report that includes individual user activity has been restricted, for privacy considerations. Reports including such data will not load.
  • “Segmented Visits” logs: Additionally, reports presented in a table format include options to “Open the segmented visits log,” represented by an icon with a person in a square box. As these include the usage activity of individual users, we have restricted public access for user privacy considerations. When this icon is selected, the logs will not load.

Navigating icons: Table format reports

Icon buttons located at the bottom of tables:

  • Gear cog: Expand or flatten the nested levels of metadata
  • Table grid: Change the display format (e.g., table, graph, chart, etc)
  • Box with right-facing arrow: Export the widget’s aggregate dataset (CSV, XML, etc)
  • Magnifying glass: Keyword search/filter within the given report widget

Icon buttons within each row of data (mouse over a row to display these options)

  • Person in a square box: This would typically display a log called “Segmented Visits,” which includes the usage activity of individual users. As noted above, this feature is restricted due to user privacy considerations; when selected, these logs will not load.
  • Arrow pointing top-right: This displays a plotted timeline of usage activity over time, for the selected row. Clicking this icon for multiple rows will collate onto the same chart; options to unselect a row are not available. Reset the selections by refreshing the browser page.

Usage metrics definitions

Please see the selected Matomo dictionary included on each dashboard page.

Want to see your institution's usage analytics data?

Our implementation of Matomo for both the OAC and Calisphere includes subsetting by contributor name, by leveraging Matomo’s “custom dimensions” feature. Please see the Filter Usage Statistics Reports by Contributor page for details.

Questions?

Please contact us if you have any questions.